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Land between the Rivers [PF][PEACH]

Preface
So, third time is the charm. After a few attempts at world building I feel I've finally hit what I wanted to create. I've tried creating two setting previously, or in that case the same setting at two different levels of magi-tech and now started from scratch and made the world I want to make.

Things I need input on....

Races: Are these balanced and can anyone recommend more variant humans?

Gods and Goddesses: Is the pantheon of any great quality so far? Is there any missing segments? Ideally these are supposed to be deities for an agricultural society irrigating what is mostly arid land. I am just wondering if that theme is met well.

Theme: Over all theming? So far does it feel like I'm heading in the right direction or no?

Input on how to do Knowledge checks in this setting. So far, Knowledge (Religion) is shaping up to be an OP knowledge since most of these societies laws (Knowledge(Local)) and History are recorded in religious texts.

Under people and places a good amount of description exists for the cultures. Wondering if the detail given is good enough? Solid description? Interesting?

I need some input on specific feats, especially ones to spice up the alternative humans.

General Input.

The Concept
The world is young, or at least it seems to be. The concept for this setting is very much drawn from the historical real world, and the epic mythological texts and stories of it, Conan the Barbarian, and other low fantasy settings. The idea is a Human centric world with diverse conflicting ethnic groups, languages and cultures, but not necessarily a whole host of exotic races. Mainly I've focused on a region called the Inan.

The Land between the Rivers, or the Inan as the natives call it is a largely flat, huge river valley. With two mighty rivers flowing through it, most of the green fertile land sits at its banks or between the rivers. This land is populated by several ethnic groups and languages, multiple divided city states, kingdoms and fiefdoms and a diverse and sometimes conflicting series of religions, Gods, Demons and Fey creatures. Beyond the Inan is mostly wasteland. To its west is the Deserts of Vab and to the East the Aserian Wastes, to the North is the Rhondesh Mountain range and the south is the Sea of Dilmund. Beyond those areas are other areas with their own ethnic groups, languages, religions, countries ect. The Inan is situated at the crossroads of trade between the far East and West and South and thus is a rich land. Unlike traditional D&D/Pathfinder this is inspired more by the ancient Iron Age Middle East then the dark ages of Europe. In fact the direct inspiration is the Ancient Near and Middle East, specifically Fertile Crescent. Obviously I draw heavily from the source, Middle Eastern ancient mythology and stories form the backbone of this setting, so references to the region, to stories pulled from Sumeria, Babylon, Canaan and the Old Testament will be dotting this specific area of the setting.

Re: Land between the Rivers [PF][PEACH]

Economics

A defining feature of any world, especially our own is the fact that things are scarce. The other defining feature of the world is the fact that both death and taxes are unavoidable. Granted in a world of magic, you could probably skirt one, but skirting both will be a herculian task. :)

In this setting, it is no different. Rulers need tax revenue, items have a tendency to fluctuate in price, and of course the money is different.

Currency

First there is the issue of money, traditionally the world of fantasy settings have a rather inflated economy. Gold is everywhere.

While total values do not change at all in this setting, the fluff around it does. First, the base SRD prices are divided by 10. If something is 100 GP it is now 10 GP, likewise whatever starting money someone gets, is divided by 10. So if you start with 1000 gp, you start with 100 GP. In my currency system, I reject the inflated economics of tradition d20 fantasy games and Instead, I upgrade every coin to the value of the next higher coin. Thus, a silver coin is now worth a gold coin, etc. The idea is that gold coins are exceptionally rare to find and silver is more plentiful.

Above is a listing of the relative values of money in relation to one another. Depending on the region, these coins have different names, in the region of Inan (Land between the Rivers), its often called Shekels.

Scarcity

Not all goods and services are avaliable, some cities have poor timber resources, some have limited access to mines. Some only have copper and tin, some have iron, some have steal. Generally speaking, each city and kingdom is assigned its relative wealth and control over resources, and from time to time, prices fluctate. This reflects warfare, changing seasons, good or bad harvests, mine collapse, ect. Sure the players want that sweet new Greater Scimitar, but they have to buy it somewhere else as the Iron supply has run low and its grotesquely expensive.

Here is a table showing the general surplus and deficits of a specific market.

Below is a variable tax rate. Mostly on sales, though obviously an enterprising DM could establish all sorts of Tax. However since players are typically landless wanderers at best, wandering theives, brigands and grave robbers at worse, generally the sales tax is all that comes up. Players rarely buy land and property. Why taxes? The lamest aspect of modern living? Well part of it is for the realism, to give a sense that these Kingdoms raise money and pay for the things Kingdoms do. How can the King afford to pay these armies? ect...

Taxation (Sales):
{table=head]Die | Rate | What?
1 | 5% | This or lower for typically small settlements or Kingdoms.
2 | 10% | Probably the standard for small cities
3 | 15% | Average for a major city.
4 | 20% | Major city with a few Gov. Projects
5 | 25% | Major City, Gov. Projects, military build up?
6 | 30% | Your King might just be a douche.
[/table]

Re: Land between the Rivers [PF][PEACH]

Races... or lack there of.

So many settings have a plethora of exotic races, your lizardfolk tribe, your elves, your dwarves, your gnomes, your drow, and its all wrapped with a nice halfling bow. However, I decided to go in a different direction. Effectively there is but one race. Humans, Homo sapians, that bi-pedal tetrapod mammal. Part of this is my over all dislike of having effectively different species represent an entire culture. The other part is the dislike of races that live different lifespans. An Elven scholar could easily recount much of human history. In an 800 year Elven life, one could recount say the entire enlightenment, Industrial revolution, the black death, the renessiance and the crusades and we wouldn't need a historian, archeologists ect because we would have this guy who lived it. In just over two elven lifespans nearly 2000 years of human history could unfold. For the purposes of my world, everyone has the same basic lifespan abilities and is effectively human.

However.... Humans may very. Some humans are born under a specific star sign, or maybe the Gods have endowed them with a specific destiney. Maybe they are the sons and daughters of a cursed soul? Maybe mom or dad got their freak on with a God(dess)?

Standard Human:

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+2 to One Ability Score: Human characters get a +2 bonus to one ability score of their choice at creation to represent their varied nature.

Medium: Humans are Medium creatures and have no bonuses or penalties due to their size.

Normal Speed: Humans have a base speed of 30 feet.

Bonus Feat: Humans select one extra feat at 1st level.

Skilled: Humans gain an additional skill rank at first level and one additional rank whenever they gain a level.

Elemental Origins:
Some humans are born with a peculiar birth mark, some odd destiney, or by fate are tied to one of the four elements.

Flameborn (Elemental Fire):

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+2 to One Ability Score: Fire Elemental blooded Humans pick one ability score other then Wisdom to give a +2 to that stat.

Elemental Affinity: Flame touched sorcerers with the elemental (fire) bloodline treat their Charisma score as 2 points higher for all sorcerer spells and class abilities. Clerics with the Fire domain use their domain powers and spells at +1 caster level. Oracles with the Flame mystery treat their Charisma score as 2 points higher for all Oracle spells and class abilities.

Flameborn humans have access to all the racial feats and archetypes of Ifrits from Advanced Race Guide.

Iceborn (Elemental Ice/Water):

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+2 to One Ability Score: Ice Elemental blooded Humans pick one ability score other then Wisdom to give a +2 to that stat.

Elemental Affinity: Iceborn sorcerers with the elemental (Cold) bloodline treat their Charisma score as 2 points higher for all sorcerer spells and class abilities. Clerics with the Water domain use their domain powers and spells at +1 caster level.

Iceborn humans have access to all the racial feats and archetypes of Undines from Advanced Race Guide.

Earthborn (Elemental Earth):

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+2 to One Ability Score: Earth Elemental blooded Humans pick one ability score other then Charisma to give a +2 to that stat.

Elemental Affinity: Elemental Air bloodline sorcerers with the elemental (air) bloodline treat their Charisma score as 2 points higher for all sorcerer spells and class abilities. Elemental Air bloodline clerics with the Air domain cast their domain powers and spells at +1 caster level. Oracles with the Wind mystery treat their Charisma score as 2 points higher for all Oracle spells and class abilities.

Windborn humans have access to all the racial feats and archetypes of Sylphs from Advanced Race Guide.

Divine Ancestry:
Like the elementally blessed, some are of divine origin. Perhaps their Father or Mother is a Divine being? A God maybe? A powerful Demon? Whatever it is, these peculiar scions of the heavens... or hell... whatever your origins, your a bit more divine then one would imagine.

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+2 to One Ability Score: Outsider blooded Humans pick one ability score and receive a +2 to that stat.

Senses: darkvision (60 feet.)

Racial Skill Bonuses: +2 racial bonus to either Diplomacy and Perception checks if ones ancestor is a Good outsider or +2 racial bonus on Bluff and Stealth checks if ones ancestor is an evil outsider.

Spell-Like Abilities: Either Darkness or Daylight 1/day depending on ancestry

Divine Magic: Sorcerers of the Celestial, Abyssal, Infernal and Destined bloodlines bloodline treat their Charisma score as 2 points higher for all sorcerer spells and class abilities. Clerics with the domains of Evil, or Good cast their domain powers and spells at +1 caster level. Oracles may discuss with their DM to treat their Charisma score as 2 points higher for all Oracle spells and class abilities depending on if the Mystery seems related in some way to their Divine (Good or Evil) ancestry.

Depending on if ancestry is of a good or evil outsider, Divine bloodline characters start play knowing Celestial (If good) or Infernal (If evil).

Divine humans have access to all the racial feats and archetypes of either Tieflings or Assimars (Advanced Race Guide) depending on the characters specific background.

Misc. Ancestry/Blessing/or curses:

Dhampir:
Generally born from those cursed to Vampirism. Legends hold a vampire that gorges on enough blood can physically reproduce. Sometimes though it is merely a pregnant woman surviving a vampires bite.

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+2 to One Ability Score: Dhampir's receive a +2 to one stat of their choosing other then Constitution.

Blood Drinking: Dhampir can gain sustenance from the blood of the recently dead. As a standard action, Dhampir can drink the blood of a creature that died within the past minute per class level. The creature must be corporeal and must have blood. This ability heals you 1d6 hit points if the creature is medium sized or larger and nourishes you as if you’d had a full meal, it heals 1d4 if the creature is small sized and does not provide nourishment.
Resist Level Drain: A dhampir takes no penalties from energy draining effects, though he can still be killed if he accrues more negative levels then he has Hit Dice. After 24 hours, any negative levels a dhampir takes are removed without the need for an additional saving throw.

Deathly Affinity: Dhampir sorcerers with the undead bloodline treat their Charisma score as 2 points higher for all sorcerer spells and class abilities. Dhampir clerics with the Death or Repose domains cast their domain powers and spells at +1 caster level. Dhampir Oracles with the bones mystery treat their Charisma score as 2 points higher for all Oracle spells and class abilities.

Weaknesses/Vulnerabilities: Light Sensitivity. Blood Craving (Must use the Blood drinking ability at least once every 2 weeks or become sickened, if blood is not consumed within the next week, characters land speed is reduced to 10 feet and has a temporary 1d4 drain on his or her constitution.

Dhampir humans have access to all the racial feats and archetypes of to Dhampir from the advanced races guide.

Feyborn:
The world has many nature spirits and nature beings, some of which can reproduce with humans. Fey creatures, left over from the first world, are often hidden and mysterious, but some will venture beyond their hidden enclaves and seek out mortal men and women as lovers.

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+2 to One Ability Score: Feyborn humans pick one ability score except constitution and receive a +2 to that stat.

Languages: Automatically begin play knowing Sylvan on top of whatever other languages can be learned based on intelligence.

Fey Affinity: Feyborn sorcerers with the Fey bloodline treat their Charisma score as 2 points higher for all sorcerer spells and class abilities. Wind Blessed clerics with the Plant or Animal domain cast their domain powers and spells at +1 caster level. Oracles with the Nature mystery treat their Charisma score as 2 points higher for all Oracle spells and class abilities.

Feyborn humans have access to all the racial feats and archetypes of Elves from standard pathfinder.

Others to come....

Q&A about Variant Humans

Q: Do these variant humans have unique appearences?
A: Generally its up to the player, though as a rule, usually nothing to odd. A Flameborn human may have almost bronze like skin, or red hair, maybe golden eyes. A Dhampir will certainly have a paler complexion, and fang like teeth, a Divine Human may have only a simple birthmark, A Feyborn may have slightly pointed ears. But ultimately its up to the player and the DM. Generally only the Dhampir have definitevely physiological difference to humans.

Q: Do these variant humans form their own Kingdoms?
A: No, or I should say not Kingdoms universally composed of said people. One Kingdom may be founded by a Vampire, whose Dhampir descendents continue to rule and form the noble aristocracy. However the births of said variant humans are so infrequent that there aren't enough to form a country of just Feyborn, Just Dhampir, ect.

Q: Do they have their own special Languages?
A: Some do. The All but the Dhampir have a specific languages they inheritly can understand. These being the magical languages of spirit beings, Outsiders ect. However languages in my world work a bit differently.

Languages

This world is fairly rough on language, in that "common," languages are non-existent. Traditional 3.5/PF worlds have typically racial languages. Dwarves speak Dwarvish, Elves speak Elvish, Humans speak Common. Well for one this is a world that lacks other races besides human. While Human's may vary, everyone is effectively the same species. Great! So they all speak Common right? No.

In this world languages vary by region and are usually specific to a nationality/ethnicity/region/empire. In that sense languages in this world mirror languages in our world, in that different people speak different languages.

Players begin play automatically getting their base language as their first language they were raised to speak. A big part of this is DM fiat and player character lore and backstory. A players starting language will depend heavily on where the character was born and thus what language he spoke originally.

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Cosmology

The Cosmology of this world is one of uncertainty. Many Planes exist merely in theory, no mortal has ever traversed such places. Similar to how Einstein conjectures a white hole exists yet nobody has seen it, several planes exist merely as variables in some great wizards arcane formula. They are the label given to explain the function of a spell, the origin of some magical force, and other phenomena.

The Outer Planes:

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Material Plane: This is the real world, the Prime Material plane. You are here.

Ethereal Shadow: This is the essential plane beyond the real world. Functionally it acts as the Plane of Shadow for spell purposes. It also acts as the Ethereal plane for spell purposes. This is the strange misty world of ghosts, demons and spirits. Theologians, Wizards and lay people alike have ventured a guess as to its nature, and some have even made contact with it. This world is filled with mirrored realities of the material plane, dreams, premonitions and the thoughts from the material plane can sometimes take real form here. This plane is linked to the material world and to all other planes known and unknown. It is the plane between planes. It's true nature, shape and form is difficult to say. It is said to be made up of infinite demi-planes, pocket worlds and mini-realities. However a few have been understood and described, but they are again mere theories. Some have visited this plane and returned, describing colorful realms where fey spirits hide from the material world, others have described misty wastelands with horrid monsters and the wandering dead. Some say the plane thinks, it knows you, others say it doesn't

The Cosmic Chaos: This plane acts as the "Astral Sea," for spell purposes. The Cosmic Chaos is the raw twisting plane of magic. Separated from the Astral Tapestry by its lack of intelligence, this is essentially the binding glue of reality and existence altogether. This plane exists purely in theory, justifying some spells that allow one to transport to mysterious other planes of existance. It is considered both a seperate plane, and intricatly woven into every other plane of existance. As this is the plane of raw elemental magic in its purest, most chaotic form.

The Astral Tapestry: This plane is less a plane and more a consciousness. It is a name given by some to a plausible heaven or source of Intelligence driving the universe. Some have allegedly gotten a glimpse of it but it is said to have caused blindness or confusion. Some theorize that it is not a plane but in fact an over-soul or collective consciousness in the universe. Gods and Goddesses allegedly live here, or are part of this plane. Theologians debate heavily as to the nature of this plane, or even if it exists.

The Inner Planes:

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Elemental Plane(s): Said to be the plane(s) of elemental beings and forces. Some divide it up based on elements like Earth, Air, Fire, Ice, ect... some say it is one undivided plane where the elements swirl about in chaos.

Positive/Negative Energy Plane(s): While purely theoretical, these planes are considered firmly ground in arcane sciences. Believed to be linked to the Outer Astral Tapestry, and in some cases alleged to be the engine of life and creation in the universe, akin to a power source, it is not too well understood beyond its link to divine magic and the Astral Tapestry.

Re: Land between the Rivers [PF][PEACH]

Classes

For the most part, every standard Pathfinder class is avaliable, however a few are not. Partly for personal taste reasons, partly for flavor, partly because the technology of that class does not yet exist. For the most part every class is avaliable save for a few.

The above are the approved classes, an explenation is obviously in order... Part of it is personal taste.

Summoners, For one, there are already Wizards who can conjur. Second, the game action economy becomes a bit harder to deal with as it is with Wizards summoning.

Druids, Almost purely a personal taste thing. Nature magic is sort of the domain of Gods, Fey, and Clerics, Wizards and Witches surve as nice Priests and Priestess of the natural world.

Paladin, yeah I know, wouldn't a holy zealot fit wonderfully? Yes and no. As I'll get to below, Alignment is practically non-existant in this world of mine. More over, I'd prefer Paladin be a roleplay thing, then a game mechanics thing. I know, completely my personal taste but it is what it is.

Gunslinger, well this is an obvious one, though considering the presence of alchemists, one does question me on this. The actual technology for rifles is not yet available, where as alchemists and skilled apothecaries have always existed.

Alignment

Alignment is tricky. That tyrannical king? Well did you know he gives out bread to the poor and decrees that slaves be treated justly and freed after 7 years of labor? Sure he has a police force casting Geas on everyone to ensure obediance and patriotism... but come on man!

Alignment is practically non existant for mortals. Words like Angel, Devil, Demon, Evil Spirit, Holy Spirit, all are mostly words used by mortals to describe the forces from beyond that act on the world of mortals. Effectivelly the Lawful and Chaos, Good and Evil subtypes do not really exist.

Angels and Devils are effectively the same thing. The spawn of Gods and Goddesses meant to do their bidding. These beings are defined by their divine nature, and the fact that generally none were ever human or mortal but were created by Gods and Goddesses as immortal (Live forever, not unkillable though) beings.

Demons are unaligned creatures in the world beyond the material one. Unbound by Gods, they roam the planes doing as they please. Some were angels whom have fallen, some were devils whom have broken free, some were once mortal people whose form has changed in the afterlife. Some are imprisoned in hellish realms.

Spells like Protection from Evil, Magical circle against evil or its corrilary, Magical circle against Good, Protection from Good would become Protection from Devil/Angel, Magic Circle against Devil/Angel. Likewise there is Magic Circle against Demons, and Protection from Demon.

Subtypes like Lawful, Chaotic, Good and Evil are substituted as...

Lawful, Good = Angel

Lawful, Evil = Devil

Chaotic, Evil = Demon (Though Demons are not inherently destined to be evil

Re: Land between the Rivers [PF][PEACH]

While this is ostensibly a Pathfinder game, obviously for the purposes of flavor and niftyness, many things from other sources like 3.5 are used.

Armor and Weapons that are banned, generally consist of things like Chain Shirts, Rifles, and Crossbows. For rogues, arrangements can be made to replace those on his or her weapon list.

However Spells, Gear, Armor, Weapons and Enchants (...For the most part) from the following books are definitely allowed. Sandstorm, Stormwrack and Frostburn.

Why? Well in the Inan, a wizard that can turn into sand, turn people into pillars of salt and transmute sand into glass fits the setting. Likewise other climate zones might have similar need for flavor spells, items ect.

Limits of Magic

The limits of magic are as follows, these spells and spells that do this are banned or changed.

Create Water: Why? Because creating water is near godlike, especially in the Inan where it is a desert for the most part. Only deities can actually cast this spell.

Resurrection: Limited to time, place, and the need to use Incantations (Alla Unearthed Arcana). There is a substantial chance that the dead will not come back as they did in life. That will end up with a curse from the Gods, that legions of mindless dead will raise. More or less, Death is meant to be a one way trip. Very few can be raised from the dead and restored to life. Perhaps undead, but pulling a Lazarus does in fact require a miracle or the spell Miracle/Wish.

Purify Food and Drink: Just do not like them.

Poison food and drink: Just do not like them.

Create Food: Again, Godlike.

Magic Items

This involves the most DM fiat. Magic items are meant to be rarer, more difficult to acquire, and generally more awesome. Generally this means, not every single little thorp and hamlet will have the town enchanter. In fact, those who can themselves enchant are fairly few and far between, the enchants they can perform are few and far between. And often gaining magic items requires either a bargain with a deity, fey spirit, or an enchanter who crafts the item but then tells you what you have to do or sacrifice to make it magic.

In conjunction with this, many monsters that have damage reduction that only magic can overcome, I've altered to have some other form of damage reduction. Likewise oils of magic weapon are more commonplace allowing temporary enchantments upon items.

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Gods and Goddesses

Gods and Goddesses in this setting do not traditionally have a specific alignment except that some are generally good and others generally bad. Most of this is told from the perspective of the people worshiping these deities. One deity, Akhkzomet is a vile fiend of disease, affliction and misery. While not labeled evil, what she does (Visit curses and sickness unto people) is regarded as bad by the people who live in the Inan. Thus she is a fiend not to be worshiped. Nazrael, the Goddess of the Sun, is also said to be passionate. Without her plants will not grow and the world would be without light and life, however the sun is seen also causes drought, makes things extremely hot, dries up the water. Finally sunburns, nobody likes those.

Deities are thus divided up based on their actions and relations to mortals, as in the players. Good deities generally being those worshiped by conventional society. And bad deities generally being those not sanctioned by society as something to legitimately worship.

Gods and Goddesses also generally do not have a favored weapon, favored weapons are determined generally by ones local cult.

First, a regional map of the Inan and nearby areas, to give you an idea of the places these divine beings are revered... or feared.Map:

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The Good Deities...

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Ziel, God of the Moon

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Domains: Darkness(Moon), Magic, Luck(fate), WeatherWorshiped mostly by: Vabbians and Sabylians, Oracles, Farmers, Witches.Portfolio: Time, Fate, Age, the Seasons, The Lunar calender, Night, the MoonCenters of Worship: Nazri (Shrine of the Moon), Urakesh (Spire of Clocks), Qutan (Ziggurat of the Crescent), Pilgrims RockDescription: Depicted as an elderly man with a great white beard, he often is depicted as having a crescent moon sigil on his fore heard and long Ibex horns. Ziel and Nazrael, along with Mizarom turned the horn of Enlel into the Key of the Damned which was used to bind him into hell.

He is the lover of Nazrael, however his fidelity is questionable.

Nazrael, Goddess of the Sun

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Domains: Charm, Fire, Sun, MagicWorshiped mostly by: Vabbians and Sabylians. Farmers, Sorcerers, Witches, Wizards, BardsPortfolio: Passion, Intensity, Day, Fertility, Fire, Sex, Spells, the SunCenters of Worship: Nazri (Shrine of the Sun), Erudesh (Dawnslight Ziggurat), Pilgrims RockDescription: A nude woman, wreathed in flames, usually depicted with a stylized sun behind her head. She has small female Ibex horns. Ziel and Nazrael, along with Mizarom turned the horn of Enlel into the Key of the Damned which was used to bind him into hell.

She is the prime lover of Ziel, her fidelity is also questionable.

Anash, Goddess of the Rivers, Lakes and Sea

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Domains: Weather, Water, Plants, Animals, MagicWorshiped mostly by: Especially Tamazians, but all ethnic groups in the InanPortfolio: Rivers, Oceans, The Anash River, Sea life, Sea of DilmundCenters of Worship: Mezekesh (Coral Ziggurat)Description: Depicted as an Aqua marine blue skinned mermaid with long white hair, more humanoid looking. Vabbians and Sabylians hold that she is the daughter of Nazrael and Ziel, Tamazians do not adhere to this belief and believe they merely willed themselves into being.

She is sisters with the Goddess Enki, and Mother of Asher. She mother Asher with a mortal shepherd.

Enki and Anash resolved to release the Terrasque to fight Gog, the False God, during the prelude to the War in Heaven.

Enki, Goddess of the Rivers, Lakes and Sea

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Domains: Weather, Water, Plants, Animals, MagicWorshiped mostly by: Especially Tamazians, but all in the InanPortfolio: Rivers, Oceans, The Enki River, Sea life, Sea of DilmundCenters of Worship: Mezekesh (Coral Ziggurat)Description: Typically a darker blue mermaid with more fish like features, no hair and a fish fin on her head. More clearly fishlike, but still humanoid. Vabbians and Sabylians hold that she is the daughter of Nazrael and Ziel, Tamazians do not adhere to this belief.

She is sisters with the Goddess Anash, and Mother of Anshara. She mothered Anshara with a mortal fishermen.

Enki and Anash resolved to release the Terrasque to fight Gog, the False God, during the prelude to the War in Heaven.

Anshara, Goddess of Health

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Domains: Healing, Community, Protection, NobilityWorshiped mostly by: All Ethnic groups, Healers.Portfolio: Health, Cures, Fertility, Birth, Pregnancy, Marriage, FamilyCenters of Worship: Augury Rock,
Uthesh (Shrine of Serpents), Kisho (Ziggurat of Peace)Description: Said to be the Daughter of Enki and a mortal man, Anshara is depicted as a woman wrapped in white cloth, with three sets of white feathered wings, and a khopesh of gold.

She was unwillingly the mother of Akhkzomet, Sazomet and Batzomet, the fiendish offspring of Enlel. Her daughter Akhkzomet is most reviled for Akhkzomet is her polar opposite, a fiendish deity of affliction, death and disease. Anshara broke the right horn of Enlel and with Mizarom, Nazrael, and Ziel bound him into the black pit of the ethereal-shadow, and then helped forge the horn into the Key of the Damned.

Asher, God of the Hunt

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Domains: War, Animals, Plant, Glory, StrengthWorshiped mostly by: All Ethnic groups. Hunters, Warriors, Adventurers, Games, Honor, Combat prowessPortfolio: Hunting, Herdsmen, Triumph, Struggle, AdventureCenters of Worship: Azar Izel (Mt. Of Zultan), Akkash (Ziggurat of Champions)Description: Depicted as a man in hide armor, With a great tightly braided beard wielding a composit longbow. Son of Anash and a mortal man, he is known to favor the strong and help the weak become strong.

He is famed for slaying the false artificial being known as Gog, and for killing Batzomet, Arch-Fiend of rage. He is close friends with the nature Goddess Izel.

Asher is both responsible for slaying Gog, and Batzomet.

Mizarom, God of the Judgement

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Domains: Repose, Rune, Magic, LawWorshiped mostly by: All ethnic groups. Often by priests and clerics whom deal with interring the dead, fighting the undead, and by Arcane spellcasters.Portfolio: Judgment, Law, Afterlife, The Dead, Spellweaving, and writingCenters of Worship: Arkech (Ziggurat of Sleeping Souls, Minaret of Truth, Stone of Law), Urakesh (Shrine of Spells)Description: Seen as man with small horns, skinny, tightly wrapped in black robes with feathered frills coming out the neck and sleeves, usually covered in keys, keyrings, and locks. He is often depicted clutching a book or mechanical device.

Mizarom is said to have let man learn magic, or taught the most ancient people of the Inan basic spell casting. He is also often credited with being the source of law for most Kingdoms. Mizarom is said to lament man kinds willingness to wield more destructive forms of magic, and is said to visit curses upon law breakers and those whom try and raise the dead without his consent.

Mizarom was instrumental in aiding Anshara in binding Enlel into the Ethereal Shadow, in some layer of it Mizarom dubbed Gahenna.

Azul, Goddess of Pleasure

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Domains: Fire, Charm, Magic, ArtificeWorshiped mostly by: Tamazians, Sinatians, Bards, Wizards, Sorcerers, Rogues, Artists, Performers, Writers and Party goers.Portfolio: Lust, Pleasure, Art, Poetry, Parties, Fire DancesCenters of Worship: Mezekesh (Temple of the Golden Heart),
Kemi (Menagerie of Flames)
Urakesh (Shrine of the Dance)Description: Depicted as a dark reddish skinned woman with feminine curves and typically naked. Crowning her head are horns like those of a goat or ram, sometimes an female Ibex. She has a long tail and silver like hair. Idols and artwork usually show her in a seductive pose or holding a harp or lute. Vabbians and Sabylians say she is the daughter of Nazrael and a mortal bard whose wondrous songs enchanted the Sun Goddess so that she made love with him in his tent.

Tamazians and Sinatic speakers do not say that she was born from the very volcano's of the Azun mountains, emerging from a pool of molten rock.

Kikatnu, God of Crafts

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Domains: Artifice, Knowledge, Earth,Worshiped mostly by: Vabbians, Sabylians, Tamazians, Sinatic, Often by blacksmiths, miners and orders of Stone-cutters.Portfolio: Craftsmen, Stonecutters, Builders, Miners, SmithsCenters of Worship: Folk deity, no specific centers of worshipDescription: Son of Nazrael and Ziel, he is depicted as a bearded man with many tools and a great smiths hammer. Most idols show him being very short and stalky.

Shonash, God of Games

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Domains: Charm, Artifice, Water, Community, GloryWorshiped mostly by: All Ethnic groups. Bards, Partiers, Competitors.Portfolio: Sports, Competition, GamesCenters of Worship: Folk deity, no specific centers of worshipDescription: Son of Nazrael and Ziel, He is often depicted swimming. He has a lost for competition, games and sport. Like his sister Azul he is given to pleasure seeking however he often wishes to be the best and compete.

Hadat, God of Storms

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Domains: Air, Weather, TravelWorshiped mostly by: Vabbians especially those of the Desert of Vab. Merchants and travels will pray to Hadat for good luck.Portfolio: Travelers, Caravans, Merchants, Wanderers, HerdsmenCenters of Worship: The Red Gap (Merchants Wishing Well)Description: Son of Ziel and a mortal woman, depicted as a wandering man in a brown cloak with white linen bandages wrapped around his forearms and legs. Usually carries a crooked shepherds staff.

Dunara, God of Agriculture

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Domains: Luck, Animals, Plant, WeatherWorshiped mostly by: Often prayed to by farmers, Vabbians, Sabylians.Portfolio: Good Harvests, Fertile LivestockCenters of Worship: Folk deity, worshiped in private home shrines by farmers.Description: Son of Ziel and Nazrael, depicted as a golden fleeced lamb.

Kishar, Goddess of Fortunes

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Domains: Knowledge, Rune, Void, DarknessWorshiped mostly by: Sinatian peoples, Fortune tellers. WitchesPortfolio: Starsgazers, Fortune Telling, NightCenters of Worship: Folk deity, worshiped in private home shrines by farmers.Description: Often depicted as a raven haired woman in black robes with stars and silver embroidery on her robes. She may also be seen wearing a golden crown. People of the Sinat peaks associate her with a constellation appearing like a standing woman holding a scroll of said to foretell ones destiny.

Zolanil, God of Stones

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Domains: Protection, Strength, Earth, CharmWorshiped mostly by: Sinatian peoples.Portfolio: Stones, Strength, toughnessCenters of Worship: Kemi (Ziggurat of Might)Description: Seen as a bronze bull or golden bull, he is also called the bull of heaven. Associated with the virtues of strength and tenacity, but also virility and sex.

Domains: Plants, Earth, AnimalsWorshiped mostly by: Vabbians of the Red gap most often worship this deity, also people west of the Anash river.Portfolio: Rams, Livestock, Travelers, the Plains, Desert landsCenters of Worship: The Red Gap (Pillar of Horns)Description: Usually not depicted except as paintings on walls or with an Ibix skull on a stone slab. Sometimes glass or marble Ibix figurines are made.

Anat, God of Owls

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Domains: Air, Animals, Glory, Knowledge, MagicWorshiped mostly by: Tamazians and Sinatic people, often those of the Mezek forest and Sinat peaks, Wizards, Witches and Oracles.Portfolio: Birds, Wisdom, Learning, VisionsCenters of Worship: Anat (Shrine of the Great Owl)Description: Typically depicted as a large Owl, idols often carved from wood branches of Mezek trees.

Matzu, God of Turtles

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Domains: Water, Scalykind, AnimalsWorshiped mostly by: Typically people from the Southern Inan, often Vabbians and Tamazians. Usually prayed to by warriors of various types.Portfolio: Fish, Turtles, Lizards, DragonsCenters of Worship: Nimeresh (Ziggurat of the Turtle)Description: A great Dire Turtle, Dark aqua marine blue skin and a green shell.

The Bad Deities...

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Enlel, Fallen God of Storms, Arch-Fiend of Treachery

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Domains: Chaos, Evil, DestructionWorshiped mostly by: Occasional mad people, strange cults, otherwise none.Portfolio: Hatred, Faithlessness, TreacheryCenters of Worship: None in Material planeDescription: The fallen God of Storms, is depicted as a skeletal gaunt corpse like man with fangs and long bone claws and three sets of black feathered wings. Some depictions show him with a set of horns, with the right horn broken, symbolizing Anshara breaking his right horn at the conclusion of the War in Heaven.

Enlel is know as the God who sought to wipe mankind from the face of the earth. In the early days, near the age of man's beginning, Enlel disliked mankinds growing knowledge. Regarding them as mere animals, toys who should not know what Gods know. When Arch-Fey taught men of the Inan to weave arcane spells, Enlel grew enraged. When Mizarom taught man to master it, his dismay grew ever more.

When a nation among the first men built the false god Gog, even though many did not and warred against Gog and his worshipers, Enlel resolved mankind to grave of a threat and decided to flood the world. He conjured storms and clouded out the sun, moon and stars and decided to drag mankind beneath the waves.

The other God rose to stop him from wiping out mankind and ultimately Enlel was stopped before the world drowned. But his rage could never be quelled and it led him to kidnap and impregnate Anshara, forcing her to birth his three children Akhkzomet, Sazomet, and Batzomet whom would be a pox upon mankind.

Anshara eventually grappled Enlel and broke his right horn, and took it to Mizarom, Nazrael and Ziel whom used it to bind him into a dark empty pit in the ethereal shadow. Mizarom then made his horn into the Key of the Damned, which seals the gates of hell.

Akhkzomet, Fiend of Affliction

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Domains: Death, Evil, Luck(Curses), MagicWorshiped mostly by: Weavers of black magic, however few pray to her as she tends to be the bringer of disease. Technically clay idols of Akhkzomet are made and then smashed or binded in rituals to ward her away from communities and fields.Portfolio: Spiders, Disease, Afflictions, Curses, Pestilence, Black MagicCenters of Worship: None in Material planeDescription: Akhkzomet is the first child of Anshara and Enlel. She appears as emaciated woman, with fading paled skin. Her left eye is an empty skeletal socket, and her right eye, a blank white sphere. Her mouth is covered by bloody linen wrappings. At her talon feat writhe locusts, maggots. Her boney clawed hands weave black magic, and the air she breathes is pure poison and disease.

Akhkzomet is the most vile of the three spawn of Enlel. In that she relishes in affliction and degrading the body. Her mother Anshara hates her most of all since she is the polar opposite of her and the least salvageable.

Sazomet, Fiend of Discord

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Domains: Madness, Evil, WarWorshiped mostly by: Possibly some thieves and gangs, but few would pray to the Fiend who compels people to murder, steal, lie, and defraud.Portfolio: Discord, Insanity, Possession, Evil Spirits, MurderCenters of Worship: None in Material planeDescription: Sazomet is the second child of Enlel, He looks like an anthropomorphic rat, one that stands on two legs gnawing on the bones of others sitting on a pile of bloodsoaked gold. His body is rotten, partly decomposed.

He relishes of pitting people against each other, stealing, and driving people apart.

Batzomet, Fiend of Rage

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Domains: Chaos, Destruction, WarWorshiped mostly by: None, as he is considered truly dead.Portfolio: Destruction, Rage, SlaughterCenters of Worship: None in Material planeDescription: Batzomet was the third child of Enlel. He is sad to have been a serpentine dragon, in the very likeness of Gog

Hasatan, Fiend of Accusation

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Domains: Law, Evil, TrickeryWorshiped mostly by: None, though he is feared and sometimes appeased with a goat left out to be devoured by dire beasts in the desert.Portfolio: Temptation, Sin, Bad Faith Deals.Centers of Worship: NoneDescription: Hasatan is the adviser and friend of Enlel, even after the war in heaven, Hasatan has remained as Enlel's champion. Depicted as a horned man with goatlike hooves. He seeks to compel the souls of the dead to worship Enlel in the afterlife.

Tematu, Primordial Titan of the Abyss

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Domains: Destruction, Evil, Chaos, WaterWorshiped mostly by: Feared by sailors and coastal people.Portfolio: Sea monsters, the world before the world, Aboleths.Centers of Worship: NoneDescription: He looks like a giant Aboleth, but sleeps beneath the sea. He spawned the race of Aboleths, the dreaded sea creatures whom sleep in the deepest parts of the sea. The Arch-Fey of the Age of Creation bound him and his children deep in the darkest crevice of the earth.

When he awoke at Enlel's behest, he and most of his children were bound into the same pit as Enlel.

Gog, The Artificial God

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Domains: Chaos, Destruction, WarWorshiped mostly by: -Portfolio: -Centers of Worship: None LivingDescription: Once a great metallic Golem of epic size. Built by a nation of first men, whose actions in building them had their very name cursed for all the ages. Gog was imbued with such magic that he developed a false soul, reflecting the arrogance and malice of those whom made Gog.

Gog annihilated the city of Ur-Bekk with his breath that turned the sand to glass and burned shadows into the ground from those whom lived there. When the Gods released a primordial titan, the Terrasque which consumed the lands of his creators, Gog and the Terrasque clashed for seven days and seven nights. Eventually Gog defeated the Terrasque in a titanic battle that shook creation to its core. However Gog was mortally wounded, and his bones were used to make a spear, which the God Asher used to slay Gog at the peaks of the mountains which bare his name.

The Tomb of Gog is all that remains of him. In a chasm in the Magog Mountains rests the metallic bones of Gog. The land is poisoned, nothing grows, and the lake where his skull rests is poison. Those whom dwell to close to Gog grow sick, weak and eventually die. His chest still burns with the magic that sustained him and gave him life, and still rages with the malice and arrogance of Gog's creators.

Re: Land between the Rivers [PF][PEACH]

People and PlacesArea Map:

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About the Inan Plains
The region is defined geographically by the wide, mostly flat, green belt between the Anash and Enki rivers which give life to an otherwise lifeless desert. The soil is uniquely fertile, and with its extensive irrigation and agriculture, the Inan is the most productive agricultural land in the world. Producing more grain per acre then anywhere else. However this agricultural abundance also makes it a target. Empires within and without have sought to rule the whole region for this ability alone. Numerous outside armies have thrust themselves into the plains for the chance to control the verdant bread-basket and feed an empire. From the successful Hyperians who ruled the land for nearly a century, to the unsuccessful Lydians whose armies were consumed by sandstorms and marauding bedouins before they could reach the rivers, the land has a long and blood soaked history.

These lands saw the first true cities, and the first true wars over land. Wars among locals often start from simple land disputes between tribes. A farmer and a herdsmen will disagree, and seek out the nearest friendly king, soon this dispute is lost in the fight for prestige and control over land. Wars are spawned over grazing land, wheat fields, and irrigation canals most frequently.

People and Cultures

Tamazian:

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"We Tamaz, the brothers of Peji and Sinat, were brought to the fertile delta by the Mermaids. From out of the shallow tide-pools and sea caves Anash and Enki nourished us and gave us the fields to till and plow."
- Anjarban, Chief scribe of Anat.

History:
... rewrite coming, check History section

Culture and Religion:
Tamazian culture is defined heavily by three factors, religiosity, purity and its castes and traditions. Everyone knows who they are and what the Gods expect them to do with their lives.

Religion plays a key role in the lives of the Tamazian people. For one, the prime deities are Anash and Enki, the two mermaid Goddesses that they worship as the pinnacle of their pantheon. Worship and devotion often consists of animal sacrifices, burnt offerings, and occasionally a form of human sacrifice called scapegoating. A practice that involves finding a person whom has transgressed the Laws of Contamination or the caste system and ritually burning them alive to appease the Gods.

The Laws of Contamination form a sort of purity code in Tamazian life. The rules dictate what can be eaten, when and where it can be eaten, how food must be prepared, how one is to clean and groom themselves, How frequently one should bathe, what actions are clean and unclean, what clothing one can wear. One may not eat the flesh of a land serpent, but a sea serpent is acceptable, one may eat any form of fish or shell fish but one may not it squid or octopi for example.

Then there is the castes. Almost universally caste is something one must be born into. First is the Priests and Priestesses. Unlike Vabbian culture, the Tamazians have had women rise to the heights of the religious caste. Next is the Nobility, Kings, Queens and Landlords. Next is the Merchant caste. consisting of those whom own land, businesses and manage or are members of guilds, next is the slave caste consisting of bonded laborers. However now all slaves are property of the King, similar to Vabbian customs. Then there is the outcast or outlaw caste which consists of those who transgress the rules, disobey the established order. While the social caste system goes back to time immemorial, its hold of the Tamazian's is fading. Now under the royal of a Vabbian royal family and increasingly newer generations are abandoning the caste system leading to conflict within traditional Tamazian society.

While Tamazian culture is rigid and more conservative then most, It is also a culture that grants women considerably more equality then Vabbian society in many instances. Women can own land and property, even when married, and women have to give consent to any marriage arrangement. More over while the Vabbian custom of temple prostitution and ritual sex is eschewed, Tamazians are more open to pre-marital sex, extra marital sex for both people and unlike Vabbians polygamy is considered sinful. And like all Inannan cultures, hospitality is a supreme virtue.

Kingdoms, City-States, Prominent Tribes:
To come.

Vabbian:

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"They, the sons and daughters of Ammon, come by the droves with thirsty mouths and hungry bellies. Terrible drought has dried their lakes and grazing land, Akhkzomet cursed them with famine and drove them to the safety of Anash and Enki."
- Anjarban, Chief scribe of Anat.

History:
... rewrite coming, check History section

Culture and Religion:
Vabbians worship primarily Nazrael, Ziel, Mizarom and gods and goddesses related to them. Originally they did not worship Anash and Enki as those were exclusively Tamazian Goddesses. It was not until Vabbitic speakers colonized the Inan plains that the mermaid Goddesses entered their pantheon of worship. Vabbitic culture is generally regarded as patriarchal. For example, their societies embrace arcane magic, however teaching women arcane magic is almost unheard of. Though some of the tribes that still live in the Vabbian Desert will teach women magic. The only female arcane spell casters are those chosen by destiny and wield magic without training such as sorceresses or witches. Likewise the elite religious and political institutions are nearly universally dominated by men. Though cults of Nazrael often have mostly female priestesses, many act as both priestesses and temple prostitutes as Nazrael is a Goddess of both the sun and sex. Also these priestesses are subordinated to the nearly universally male priesthood of Ziel. Men also can have multiple wives, though most Vabbitic kingdoms limit it to five. However marriage contracts can stipulate that he only have one, and even that a man can never employ the services of a prostitute. Women do hold some power over the terms of marriage contracts.

Vabbitic culture is more laid back when it comes to social classes then that of the Tamazians. Without a rigidly defined caste system, Vabbian culture is more upwardly socially mobile. Even slaves enjoy some level of security in this society. Slaves are universally property of their local King. The King rents slaves to land owners, merchants, guilds ect... allowing said people to receive tax breaks. In turn they must treat the slaves as well as they would treat a stranger in their home. To mistreat a slave is to bring the wrath of the King. Moreover slaves gain freedom within seven years of service, unless they were criminals. Also slaves can marry, have children whom are not slaves and can not have their families separated without their consent. Though where Vabbitic culture is laid back in social caste, Vabbitic culture is known for its litigiousness. Kings employ legions of scribes, judges and oracles to create decrees. Laws also generally come with harsh sentencing. An eye for an eye and a hand for a hand are very much the law of the land where Vabbitic is spoken.

Finally Vabbians, like all Inannan peoples consider hospitality a high virtue. A story circulates among Vabbian people of a village, the name differs from region to region, where a villagers ware so cruel and unwelcoming to strangers that it brought a curse upon them. Some stories say the whole of the villagers were turned into salt by Mizarom as punishment, other versions say Mizarom would not accept their dead so the dead would rise and walk as rotting animated corpses, and still others credit Nazrael with unleashing a pillar of fire that burned the village to cinders.

Kingdoms, City-States, Prominent Tribes:
To come....

Sabylian:

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"The tents of Sabylia are more colorful then there cities."
- Hamid ibn Azaman, Magi of the Council of Arkech.

History:
... rewrite coming, check History section

Culture and Religion:
Sabylians are more laid back then their more urbanized neighbors to the south. Religiously they are the least formal, often worshiping the Gods on hilltops and in informal yurt shrines. Even the Holy city of Nazri, the temple is the open crater left by the stone from the heavens and the object of worship is a large black stone that Sabylians and indeed many non-Arkechian Vabbitic people will come to pray near. They even dubbed it the "Sunstone."

Sabylians are for the most part pastoral people. With lower population densities then other groups. Cities are smaller in the Sabylian hills then in the central plains. Most Sabylians in fact live in yurts, tents rather then actual buildings. While herding and livestock are the lifeblood of Sabylia, orchards and gardening are practiced but the wide spread agriculture of the southern lands is somewhat alien to Sabylian speakers.

Beyond worshiping Nazrael and Ziel, the Sabylians also worship Izel the cat deity, Asher, and in general all the deities save for the fiendish ones. Even foreign ones can be placed in local shrines. Travelers have even seen idols to very foreign Gods and Goddesses from lands no Sabylian has ever heard of. Sabylians also put an exceptional emphasis on hospitality, like all of the Inan.

Kingdoms, City-States, Prominent Tribes:
To come....

Sinatic:

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"Those of Sinat and Molhar once built the city of Ur-Bekk, they were the first to feel the might of the wicked construct know as Gog."
- Anjarban, Chief scribe of Anat.

History:
... rewrite coming, check History section

Culture and Religion:
Sinatic culture is one that values hunting. The King of Akkash, Ninazu, is also called "Lord of the Hunt." They often worship Kishar the Goddess of fortunes, Zolanil God of strength and Asher the God of the Hunt, as well as cults to Izel the Goddess of cats. Though Kishar is the most native deity to the Sinatic people. Those in the remote mountains will revere her more then others. Those who have interacted with other cultures tend to adopt and worship other Gods and Goddesses as well as the Sinatic culture is more malleable towards religion similar to Sabylia.

To prove their manhood boys in nomadic Sinatian societies must hunt and kill an animal, typically an Ibex, Kudu or some horned animal. However the killing a dire animal is considered exceptionally heroic.

Sinatic speakers, like all Inannan peoples value hospitality. However they have stories about being too hospitable and trusting. Tales of vampires and other fiends of Akhkzomet using hospitality to gain access to the family and attack are somewhat common place. Also tales of evil spirits and a greater fear of necromancy pervades this culture, even more so then the others in the area.

Re: Land between the Rivers [PF][PEACH]

Skills

For the purposes of making gameplay a bit easier and less punishing, some skills have been beefed up. Because this setting has some peculiarities about it that require certain skills to be beefed up, I will list the skill, the change and why the change was added. Most of it dealing with Linguistics because this is a setting without such convenient languages as "common."

Linguistics (Int):

Why: Because in this setting there is absolutely no real common racial languages, language barriers can spring up fast. Humans have no "common," and save for the magical languages (Sylvan, Draconic, Celestial, Infernal and the elemental languages) humans have languages similar to real world linguistics, in that they are very diverse.

Thus Linguistics can be used not only to decipher written text but to understand and interpret spoken words. This is an addition to the current abilities Linguistics skill checks allow.

Check: You can decipher spoken languages that you are unfamiliar with. The base DC is 20 for the any typical speech, 25 for speech where the persons body language is obscured or isn't used or the face is not visible, and 30 or higher if the speakers body language is extremely different or is a disembodied voice. If the check succeeds, you understand the general content of what the person is trying to communicate. If the check fails, make a DC 5 Wisdom check to see if you avoid drawing a false conclusion about what the person says. (Success means that you do not draw a false conclusion; failure means that you do.)

Like any linguistics check you can try again. Interpreting unfamiliar speech typically takes half the time it would take to decipher text since one has access to the speaker, his or her body language and facial expressions ect... to help interpret what they are trying to say.

Knowledge (Religion)(Int):

In some circumstances, Knowledge (Religion) can also be used in place of knowledge (Local) checks to check to see if one knows the local legal customs, and can be used in place of Knowledge (History) for general historical knowledge about the origins of people or distant historical events. Both substitutions are at a -2 to reflect a slightly lesser accuracy, possible bias, or in the case of law, not know local interpretations and precedents.

The reason for this change is because many cultures, Religion, Law, and History are often closely tethered in the same place. Laws are often stored in religious scriptures. Likewise knowledge of historical events is also often stored in religious texts.

This substitution however is purely based on location. Some cultures will have a dividing line between secular and religious practice where as others will not. In areas where church and state are often the same thing, Knowledge (religion) can be used to substitute these specific other knowledge checks.

Re: Land between the Rivers [PF][PEACH]

Oh so that's where that went! Glad to see you finally got to use the tables.

As to the rest, here are my thoughts.

I loooove the map! How did you make it? I'm always experimenting with styles.

Some of the names picked for various peoples feels forced. For example, Vabbian. It rings a bit hollow for me. But Akhkzomet? Enki? Excellent! Makes me think of ancient Mesopotamia. All of the Ur-names feel right too. This time era needs more love.

I'm not a fan of the human variants, if only because they all seem the same to me. One thing I did with Eramus was make humans more like other races by creating, essentially subraces. Why separate Elves into so many distinct parts? High, Dark, Gray, Wood, etc. I would advise to give each of the major human cultural groups either highly distinctive bonus skills (a seafaring race should get Use Rope automatically with a bonus, a race of Horse-masters should have Handle Animal and Ride, etc,) or just give them a different set attribute bump. As an example, Vabbians would get +2 to Con because of their migration, and Knowledge (Arcane) as a bonus skill regardless of class. Sinatic people would have a bonus to Survival Checks and a +2 to Dex or something.

Finally, I like the language gap. Far more realistic than standard. Again, this time period needs more love from movies, games and whatever else, and I like how your language fix represents the varied city-states of the region.

Again, awesome job! Is there anything more specific you wanted to hear comments on? I'm happy to help.

Re: Land between the Rivers [PF][PEACH]

Originally Posted by Ninjadeadbeard

I'm not a fan of the human variants, if only because they all seem the same to me. One thing I did with Eramus was make humans more like other races by creating, essentially subraces. Why separate Elves into so many distinct parts? High, Dark, Gray, Wood, etc. I would advise to give each of the major human cultural groups either highly distinctive bonus skills (a seafaring race should get Use Rope automatically with a bonus, a race of Horse-masters should have Handle Animal and Ride, etc,) or just give them a different set attribute bump. As an example, Vabbians would get +2 to Con because of their migration, and Knowledge (Arcane) as a bonus skill regardless of class. Sinatic people would have a bonus to Survival Checks and a +2 to Dex or something.

Actually, the human variants are meant for humans of odd destinies. Like Divine Humans are for those seeking say a Persius or Hercules type background with a divine mom and dad. Different human ethnic groups are not at their base meant to be statistically different.... However....

I see where your coming from, Actually for the different human ethnic groups I plan to make a list of homebrew traits. Since this is pathfinder, all characters get 2 traits at the start and I plan to make many that run along with those.

An example, players chosing to play a Tamazian Human would have the option of one of these traits....

Marsh Walker: +2 to all Swim checks and bog terrain is not considered difficult.

Master Diver: One can hold their breath for 10 times their constitution modifier.

Forest runner: You gain a +1 trait bonus on Acrobatics checks and a +1 trait bonus to your CMB when attempting to resist trip attacks.

Originally Posted by Ninjadeadbeard

Some of the names picked for various peoples feels forced. For example, Vabbian. It rings a bit hollow for me. But Akhkzomet? Enki? Excellent! Makes me think of ancient Mesopotamia. All of the Ur-names feel right too. This time era needs more love.

Enki and Akhkzomet are variations of Babylonian words actually. For Akhkzomet I believe a variation on a Babylonian word for Vampire or fiend (Though my source may be off). And Enki is a variant of a pronunciation of an Mesopotamian God... or is the transliteration. Sinatic is somewhat of a wink and a nod to the Sinai desert ect... actually a few names and words are similar or just redone. I won't like I am often terrible with names. Vabbian/Vabbitic is actually the more original name invented. The main reason for their difference was to create the idea that they aren't native to the Inan originally. Similar to how the Sumerian natives were different from the Semitic speakers who came from Arabia and Jordan and founded Babylon and Akkadia.

And yeah, I felt not only does the era but in general the region need a bit more focus. In my D&D group there are a bunch of DM's and we all have our own homebrew settings. A lot of medieval Europe, steampunk/megitech.... I figured.... Heck nobody is touching the fertile crescent or the Iron age.... I've found my niche!

Originally Posted by Ninjadeadbeard

Finally, I like the language gap. Far more realistic than standard. Again, this time period needs more love from movies, games and whatever else, and I like how your language fix represents the varied city-states of the region.

My players love and hate it. One of them, my first DM who introduced me to D&D dislikes the lack of a Common global language. Some players like the realism, and a few fun RP sessions have happened in test runs where the players had to interpret from hand gestures what someone was trying to say. :D

Originally Posted by Ninjadeadbeard

Again, awesome job! Is there anything more specific you wanted to hear comments on? I'm happy to help.

Well I can always use more crunch for one, as you mentioned the variant humans is something. Granted I like the idea of having everyone be Homo-sapians, and I'm more inclined to giving ethno-linguistic groups access to specific traits (A Pathfinder thing) reflecting cultural practices and affinities like swimming and seafaring for Tamazians, or resistance to desert heat for Vabbians, or better ride skill for Sabylians. So a list of traits (Examples of traits from Pathfinder SRD... Link).

Two other things are a review of the Gods and Goddesses so far listed, and just a general feel of the cultures. Like do you get a feeling for who the Vabbitic speakers are? The Tamazians? More info? Less? Images? ect...

I've also got a more comprehensive History of the Inan region including tales of the mythic origins and early days, foreign occupations ect... and I'd like some input on the quality and believably of it.

Re: Land between the Rivers [PF][PEACH]

For purposes of the time and calenders, the dating system is set to before the death of Gog and after words. The year 0, or the first year of the current era is marked immediately after Gog's demise.

The Historical Record of the Inan
The history of the Inan is long and colorful. At times much of its early history is more mythic then objective fact. Perspectives vary, and spin does happen. This is an overview compilation of the history of the Inan, spanning 8,000 years. For this I'd definitely like notes and opinions on. With this I tried to be a bit more literary, having occasional citations from texts interspersed with the actual story.

In the beginning...:

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The exact origins and creation of the world are unknown.

For the Inan, what created it is unknown, but the arrival of its first people is somewhat known. Tamazian legend holds that they came from the south along the coast and by sea. Their ancient texts describe them as a people who swam and lived on rafts and boats. They describe how the land was harsher then the sea, describing endless rocky wastes and coast-lands inhabited by hostile people and animals. People whom worshiped two sister deities, Anash and Enki, who the Tamazians followed on their flotilla at sea. When 8,000 years ago they were shown to the “Garden of the Mermaids,” as they called it. Thus ending their endless wandering. The marshlands now called the Tamaz Delta and the Mezek forest. There they built homes made of reeds, feasted on fish, and learned to till the fields and grow grain, and most importantly write down their thoughts with a written language. The fertile marshy plains the Mermaid Goddesses showed them, they called the land Inan, which literally means “The vulva of the world,” as it was wet, fertile and full of life compared to the drier grasslands of Molhar or the rocky coasts elsewhere around the Sea of Dilmund.

To the north, the Sabylians have little known history. Unlike the Tamazians they had no written language at the time. The Vabbians later adopted writing from the Tamazians and made their own alphabet. Vabbians describe the now Vabbian Desert as a grassland and the Sea of Thirst as the Lake of Ammon. Sinatic peoples on the other hand are recorded as having built two grand cities, one being Ur-Bekk and another whose a name has since been stricken from all records, though it was in the Aserian wastes. From this time, little is known save for what the Tamazians wrote down as only their records survive. This era is hard to pin down as claims about its wonders are often beyond belief. It is said one of the kings of the Ammonites lived for three centuries for example.

Gog, and the Rebellion against the Gods.:

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While the Historicity of Gog and the rebellion against the Gods is in question. Tamazian and Vabbitic texts survive from this era that tell of this clash between the Gods and rebellious men of Aseria whose very names are not written, believing it to be forever cursed. They are thus called Aserians as their true name is unspeakable. This epic has however left both textual clues and physical landmarks which are still visited today, even though the event transpired around 10 BCE or roughly 7,000 years ago. The bones of Gog can still be found in the Magog mountains. The events of the war are mostly held in the Tamazian Book of Ages or “Puran,” in Tamazian.

“The men of Aseria grew impatient, wanting to know ever more secrets of the cosmos. To which the Gods would not reveal to them. They in their arrogance contrived a plot to steal this knowledge from the Gods. Unto themselves they built a golem unlike any before seen. One as great as an red greater wyrm dragon in both size and ghastly visage. They called this being, Gog, and the men of Aseria gathered to worship their creation.” (Puran 1:10–13);

The reason for the arrogance of Aseria is widely attributed to their discovery of powerful magic. While at this time people across the world were discovering spell-weaving and other mystical arcane arts, a few people of this era were true masters. Weaving magical wonders and building walled cities that “bedazzled all who looked upon them.” The Aserians were speakers of a Sinatic dialect, similar to the people of the Mulhar savanna who had build the city of Ur-Bekk.

Gog is described as a metallic golem, with the proportions and form of a great wyrm dragon, typically described as being like a red great wyrm in size and shape. Gog would, according to legend, shake the foundations of the world and confidence of the Gods in mankinds virtue. His construction would cause the fall of a God and the creation three powerful fiends. For it is said the men of Aseria had planned to send Gog to the planes of the Gods to subdue them and extract from them all the secrets of the cosmos. One of the Gods, Enlel, had already found mankind and his capacity for learning disgusting. Thinking it some cruel joke that a mere animal could do anything similar to a divine immortal being.

First the men of Aseria called the peoples of the nearby lands to join them in worshiping Gog. However none heeded their call for conversion, and so they set Gog to conquer them first.

“When the people of Tamaz and Molhar refused to worship Gog, the Aserians set Gog to display the awesome might of Aserian magic to them, They set Gog to subdue the nations of the earth, the false god unfurled its metallic wings and came to the city of Ur-Bekk, from its mouth a mighty ball of fire left the city charred in the blink of an eye. The ball of fire burnt so bright that all who looked upon it went blind, and the people of Ur-Bekk had only pale ivory shadows left of them. Ur-Bekk became no more and was never rebuilt, the land cursed by Gog's fire.” (Puran 2:17–21);

When Gog destroyed Ur-Bekk and turned his attention to the delta, he is described as threatening the small cities of Tamaz and Ur-Mezek. However the Goddesses Enki and Anash set loose upon Gog a primordial titan, a being from the ages before man. A creature listed in the Book of Ages as the “Tarrasque,” which would face Gog in single combat. The Tarrasque emerged first among the Aserian wastes and consumed the men who made Gog and laid waste to everything around them. Gog then rose up to face this beast. The two battled on the peaks of what is now called the Magog mountains by Sinatic tribesmen as it is where Gog would ultimately fall. However, Gog would not fall before smiting down the Tarrasque on the seventh day. Scattering its bones into the Aserian wastes.

Gog was damaged in the battle though. The primordial titan ripped from his ribs many bones, and tore his left wing from his back. From one of Gogs bones was made a spear that would pierce Gog's heart. By Tamazian legends, the spear was made by Enki, Vabbians say it was Kikatnu, but whom ever the craftsmen there is no disagreement as to whom ended Gog's life. Gog fell before Asher, the God of the Hunt. With spear in hand he came out from the Planes of Gods and pierced Gogs heart, shattering it and causing Gog to fall with a mighty roar. With the people whom made him dead, and with his heart in pieces, Gog fell into a deep chasm, there would be his tomb.

The death of Gog however did not end conflict, for in the Heavens among the Gods, the creation of Gog led the Gods to wonder if mankind was a threat to themselves and the world they dwelt upon.

The War in Heaven:

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The rebellion of the Aserians was ample proof to the then storm God Enlel that "... mere animals..." should never have been allowed to discover arcane magic. Enlel had always been ambivalent about allowing humans to exist, he brooded and feared the possibility of mortal creatures capable of being like Gods. With Gog and the attempt by some humans to subdue the Gods, Enlel resolved then to flood the lands and possibly the whole of the world. Enlel's arguments persuaded the great warrior God Hasatan to join him, and together the two released another primordial titan Tematu and whole hosts of beings were compelled to believe his position. When he did this, the other Gods recoiled in horror. Anash and Enki protested that their followers did not build Gog, Nazrael and Ziel also protested that their people should not suffer for the Sins of Aseria. Anash and Enki created a barrier beneath the rising seas so that her people would not drown but instead be safe in a bubble beneath the waves. Nazrael used the heat of the sun and her fire to boil the clouds and rain, and Ziel used the moon to pull the tides away. Anshara blessed man with the ability to breath water.

The Gods tried to reason with Enlel, But he maintained his position. The Gods dissipated his flood and saved mankind. But Enlel was insistent saying "They are but foul imitations, beings that we should destroy not nurture, less they try again to usurp and destroy us." Anshara, the Demi-Goddess daughter of Enki and a mortal man, tried her best to heal the people and help during the drought that followed as Enlel refused to bring the rain after his flood had failed. Enlel, found Anshara's aid to mankind so enraging that he kidnapped Anshara. If he could not drown mankind beneath the waves, he would put curses on them. He forced Anshara to bare three children. Akhkzomet was the first, fiend of disease and pestilence who double humanities suffering from disease. Sazomet was the second, he doubled mans madness and drove humanity to avarice, hate and discord. Finally Batzomet who would take Gog's place as the destroyer of worlds, Batzomet wielded the raging heart of hate and war and would make war on mankind. Anshara however could only be bound for so long, she broke free and broke off Enlel's right horn. Which the God Mizarom used to fashion the Key of the Damned, he and the other Gods then banished Enlel into the darkest pits of the Ethereal-Shadow, there to was bound his lietenant Hasatan and the Titan Tematu.

Asher, Anshara and the Cat Goddess Izel rose then to clean the mess left by Enlel's sin against Anshara. The Gods dueled Batzomet, Akhkzomet and Sazomet in the heavenly plane. Anshara gave one appeal to them to change and reject their father Enlel, however it was to no avail. The stories tell of the wickedness they inherited and Tamazian legends hold that Akhkzomet spewed "Vile curses," upon her own mother. Ultimately Batzomet was no mach for three deities and the spear crafted from the very bones of a beast made to subdue Gods. Batzomet fell to the ground leaving a pit and bones behind. However Akhkzomet and Sazomet fled the from the heavenly realsm and retreated back to other Ethereal-Shadow, hiding their faces from Asher.

The other Gods prevents Asher from hunting Akhkzomet and Sazomet, finding that even though Enlel was ghastly in what he had done, his point was partially valid. That mankind if allowed to exist in such paradise like conditions as before would only become arrogant in time and rebel.

From Myths to Cities: ( 1 - 4500 )

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In the world after Gog, Enlel and the others, a new order began to emerge. One that would shape many future conflicts to come. The conflicts between cities and the country, urban vs. rural, and agriculture vs. pastoralism. The Tamazians two primary cities at the time were Tamaz and Ur-Mezek. However as the colonized more of the then marshy plains, they built Eppon, Ukit and as far north as the Sabylian Hills they built Ur-Kasdem. Ur-Kasdem became an economic hub for the gathering of a rare snail from the lake of Elon and along the northern banks of the Anash. The snail could be used to make purple dye for clothing and became a hot commodity the Tamazians of that city traded in. The city of Tamaz became a focus for copper and tin coming out of the Sinat peaks, Ur-Mezek was a hub for lumber from the Mezek forest. Eppon came to become a hub for farms that lay scattered throughout the central Inan plains. In this time the Tamazians developed a social order that was a sort of quasi-socialism. Farmers fed their grain to collective grain storage across the Inan that were distributed nearly evenly to the nearest population centers. Artisans, stone cutters, metal workers and general non-farmers and farmers alike were thus paid a wage in grain. Farmers got the goods of the cities, and the city people did not need to farm. Tamazian society was then ruled over by its religious caste, the clerics, witches and oracles oversaw the social order and divined the will of Gods.

This city building and increased agriculture brought Tamazians headlong into the Sabylian herdsmen and conflict arose over land. The Tamazians writings tell about the savagery of the Sabylians and their over all levels of ignorance. However they are described as being herdsmen whom rode many animals and tamed large beasts which vexed the Tamazians whom for the most part did not ride horses and whose diet was almost exclusively grain and fish. Unfortunately the Sabylians were not quick to adopt writing, thus no written accounts exist from their perspective. Numerous wars were fought, between the growing agricultural and urban Tamazians and the Sabylians herdsmen. The main advantage the Sabylians had was their mobility and command of animals. On horseback they could cover great distances, and they tamed might dire bears that could wreak havoc on a Tamazian army. The Tamazians meanwhile had fortified cities, more people, and could count on the then wetter Inan plains to bog down the Sabylians who could not maneuver as easily in the swampy wetlands further south. The Sabylians at this time came to be composed of three major tribes. The Sabronites who lived near the woods of Sabrin and the Lake of Elon who most often warred with Ur-Kasdem. The Margonites were the second tribe who lived along the base of the Rhondesh Mountains and the eastern side of the Enki river. Finally the Elamites who lived around the Izel woods and along the Enki river.

To the west conflict for the Tamazians began to arise from another mostly pastoral nomadic people, the Vabbitic speakers beyond the Red Gap. For the 4,000 year period after the death of Gog, the land beyond the Red Gap became increasingly arid. Driving the Vabbitic speakers into the Inan plains. Ammon, a small city that had been built, destroyed, and rebuilt in the various clan warfare among the Ammonites, finally was abandoned in the year 4200 as the last of Lake Ammon dried up and never returned. The land became a dust bowl and was dubbed the Vabbian desert. As this happened successive waves of Vabbitic speaking herdsmen moved into the Red Gap and into the Erudun plains. At first most stayed on the western side of the Anash river, building small settlements such as Sargesh and Erudesh. But by 4000 CE the trickle became a flood as mass migrations of people fled the desert for the greener Inan. In all directions the Vabbitic speakers fanned out. Crossing the Anash and conquering the scattered farms and villages of the Tamazians. The Vabbian invasion was on, and for the next few 3 centuries it would fill the Inan with a new culture, new language, and new cities. Unlike the Sabylians, the Vabbians quickly adopted the city building, agricultural ways of the Tamazians. However unlike the Tamazians the Vabbitic speakers devised a system of taxation, and a form of private enterprise in which farmers could produce as much as they wished and sell the grain, all they had to do was give their local King a cut of the profits. Also with them came worship of Nazrael and Ziel, the sun and the moon deities. More over these pastoral folks had assimilated agriculture similar to the Tamazians and would continue their wars with the Sabylian.

The Reign of Vabbitic Kings: (4500 )

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The Vabbian invasions were a stunning success for the Vabbitic speakers. They were aided by three factors, first being iron and primitive steel when the Tamazians had only bronze, second was the Vabbian art of spell-weaving and arcane arts which the Tamazians rejected, third was that not only did their original homeland become drier but so did the Inan. The Inan became more of a green grassland then an extensive marsh, and the Anash and Enki rivers began to flood on more predictable cycles.

Their weapons, magic and more tolerable climate propelled the Vabbitic speaking invaders to make quick work of any resistance. However they did not annihilate those they conquered they merely absorbed them. Over the next 1,000 years the Vabbians began building and expanding. The city of Erudesh became massive, quickly controlling trade routes that went west and merchant caravans coming from the west would always stop in Erudesh to resupply. Nimeresh became a major hub for agriculture and would constantly war with the Tamazians of the delta and try to control the Mezek forests, however Ur-Mezek and Tamaz remained Tamazian ruled strong holds and the delta continued to elude the conquering Vabbians for another couple thousand years.

To the north the city of Arkech would be built by an elite circle of master spellcasters. Led by King Gideon the Stoneshaper, and the first Council of Twelve, Arkech rose as a center of learning and magic. It also rose to control the mines and quarries of the Yazden mountains and the trade of purple dye. Though they would war with Ur-Kasdem, Sabronites, and the Elamites who had themselves begun building a city to the north east. These wars however were difficult for the Vabbians to win as the Sabylians had begun using a chariot as well as mounted archers allowing them to deliver lightning campaigns against their enemies. The Vabbians, while also originally pastoralists were slow to adopt the Sabylians saddles and bridles and the chariot. In fact it is said in 4623, that the Arkechens fled the field when they saw the roaring chariots crossing the plains south of Elam. They fled to their allied city of Urakesh and hid from the roaring charioteers. This would see the first Arkecho-Elamite war in which Arkech was defeated and had to retreat south. However the Arkechens did have superior defenses. But often the Sabylians would raid and exact tribute from farmers. Especially the then Elamite King Ikkan who demanded monthly grain tribute to Elam. Arkech, then smaller and with fewer practiced spellcasters could not overcome the larger numbers of the Sabylians and their mobility on the field and thus capitulated. Urakesh however continued to war as they had a city in more defensible position, sitting on a rocky butte.

Erudesh would continuously pick at both Arkech and Nimeresh for centuries. The Mt. of Elyo and the plains to the west of it seeing many thousands of battles with massive armies of chariots and archers fighting at the steps of the hill. By year 5000 the Vabbians had adopted the Sabylian chariots and horse riding, frequently making it their own in the flat plains. However, the Sabylians continued to be the dominate raiding force, as the hills proved impossible to attack for long, and the Sabylian city of Elam, in spite of three separate siege attempts by Arkech in 5003, 5007 and finally in 5010, continued to stand as the king of the northern plains. However Arkech had ceased paying grain tributes to Elam. In 5028 Nimeresh fell to Erudesh, however Margesh had become the heart of farming by then and a year later Nimeresh experienced a plague outburst which the Oracles interpreted as divine wrath from Mizarom for taking an improper census that year. Likewise the city of Shinesh in 5067 was said to have been plagued by the undead for failing to offer a proper sacrifice to Nazrael that year after a good harvest. Nazrael commanding Mizarom to not let the earth take their dead. For a full year the fields of Shinesh were plagued by the walking dead. Wars between Arkech and Elam would flair up from 5200 onward, nearly every decade would have at least three major battles somewhere between the two cities. With only a brief pause in battle during a drought in 5340 to 5343, to which the Arkechen magi Yoseph ibn Aziz wrote “The Goddess Nazrael grew bored of seeing us fight, and wished to see if thirst and hunger might be more entertaining.”

Wars waxed and waned, cities flourished, faded and rose back up. Ur-Kasdem fell, was rebuilt, fell again, began to be rebuilt and then earthquakes took it out in 5432 after the last siege attempt from Arkech. Around 6000 CE even Tamaz fell, however not to armies but to a great earthquake that shifted the rivers flow and sank the city into the mud. Tamazian culture shifted exclusively to Ur-Mezek and by the year 6000 the Tamazians began having a new saying about the land, “Vulva of the World,” started also saying “... The world is always menstruating.” However it is assumed this saying had existed throughout the land for eons since the first wars with the Sabylians.

Rise of Sinatic Kings: ( 6000 )

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In 6200 a new force emerged in the region, the Sinatic tribesmen, formerly obscure herdsmen and desert wanderers arose with a vengeance. They came for roughly the same reasons as the Vabbians, a need for greener pastures. However unlike the Vabbians their invasions had some local support. King Kishan of Ur-Mezek and the oracles of the Mermaids implored the Tamazians to aid the Sinatic invaders in assaulting the northern lands. With a concerted effort between the two Sinatic Kings Mahteb of Kemi and Arman of Akkash, Ur-Mezek laid siege Nimeresh, Margesh and overran Abyre in 6200, and likewise Sinatic armies began attacking the eastern banks of the Enki river, establishing the settlement of Kemi first, and then the tribe of Akkash crossed the Enki and built on a small hill the city of Akkash in the year 6205. The two pronged invasion of Tamazian and Sinatic peoples was an excellent pincer move. The Erudeshens had sent armies south to reinforce Nimeresh only to find it empty and in fact was a diversion so that the Sinatic herdsmen could cross the river and attack the weaker cities and villages in the southern plains without much resistance.

The 12th Arkecho-Elamite war (The Battle at the East Gate): ( 6212 )

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For the next 25 years fighting waged as the foundations of Akkash and Kemi were settled, likewise in the north a desire to deal with Arkech grew amongst the three tribes of Sabylia. The Elamite King Kaden renewed his efforts and began building better siege equipment. An order of oracles and clerics practiced a cult of Necromancy, popular amongst the Elamites which had allowed them to unleash new found havoc on the Arkechens. Previously in 6190, a major battle ended with the Elamites being trounced when the Arkechens had used a spell to conjure a cloud of poison over the plains. The Elamites were trying themselves to delve into magical mysticism. Their own court of Magi, the Circle of Bones also formed which practiced various arts of Divination and Necromancy. This upset the Arkechens who tripled their sacrifices to Mizarom, pleading with their patron God to teach them such magic. Indeed Necromancy was an art still alien to their spell-casters who were mostly conjurers, transmuters and elementalist mages. In 6212 a new war flared up, King Kaden was intent to not make the mistake of his father Hozai who had suffered a route do to the Arkechen mages new found conjurations. He would counter with his own magic, and in the summer of 6212, King Kaden massed his charioteers and his magi and swept through the plains. Then Arkechen King Gideon the 5th, looked with horror and wrote “They have bound spirits of the netherworld into clay jars, and release these shadows unto any in their path. They command these dybbuk [foul spirits] and can bind them to do their bidding. Sapping the strength of our warriors whom few have the magical means of fighting.” King Kadens siege of Arkech looked to be a stunning success. Few of their magi could enchant weapons that could fight spirits, The Clerics of Mizarom worked tirelessly to bless weapons and turn back the foul spirits of King Kadens necromancers. Quickly Arkeches skilled alchemists devised an oil that could make weapons magic and means of mass producing it. Quickly the Arkechens worked, as the Elamites soon breached the walls of Arkech and had toppled one of the cities great minarets that empowered spells when cast from it. With the newly empowered weapons, the Arkechens drove the Elamites from the city after three days of house to house combat. However lingering beyond the city were also risen skeletons and Elamite warriors whom had volunteered to be risen as the Elamites “Immortal Warriors.” It is written then that the Arkechen King pondered his options and with the Council of Twelve began trying to craft a curse or some means of turning Kaden back or worse, turning Kaden against the Elamites. Kaden lacked children at the time so it was thought that with Kaden gone the Elamites would have a war of succession and thus give Arkech time to deal with the Elamites new found might. First the Council summoned and bound numerous mephits of earth, fire and glass. Second they had concocted a “blood pox.” The curse was cast upon King Kaden via a suicide caster who would get close to Kaden and cast the spell. The name of the caster is recorded as a boy named Azuman. The curse turned Kaden into an undead, a blood craving vampire. Ideally the Arkechens hoped to drive the Elamites from their fields as King Kaden turned on and consumed his own people in frantic bloodlust. The Gods must have taken pity of Kaden as he was able to resist and continue the battle, instead feasting on the blood of farmers and peasants outside the walls of Arkech, and also a good number of their warriors. But ultimately the summoned mephits and one particularly powerful glass mephit was able to thrash the Elamites. The battle at the gates of Arkech was costly and bloody, with both sides being heavily depleted and sapped by it. King Kaden noting his dwindling numbers of men, and unable to match the conjurations of Arkech turned back. Fat with blood, he took many wives and was able to create offspring for a time. Impregnating many women, as he dreamed that the Gods would bless him with children should he decide to end his own life afterward. He created the Dhampir nobility of Arkech, spawning whole family lines and securing a House of Kaden to rule over Elam. However, with great regret, he had to end his own life as part of the deal.

In the immediate aftermath of the war, Elam found itself with a whole line of nobles, carrying a unique bloodline. From each woman was spawned an entire noble house baring her name. Originally each woman was lower class, or widowed, or orphaned by the war. The House of Kaselem for example birthed not just powerful necromancers but Dhampir whom practiced a blood enriched magic called Cruoromancy or that made their power over life and death all the greater and founded whole covens of Witches.

For Arkech the aftermath was more direct. Arkech had nearly lost their city and been defeated. The ongoing wars between Elam and Arkech would no longer be ones fought between a people who had powerful sorcery and one with little magical aptitude. No, now the Elamites were no mere raiders demanding grain tribute, they were now competitors in the field of arcane magic. Moreover they weaved spells that the Arkechens themselves were not very good at. Divination and necromancy proved their weakness, were as transmutation and conjuration were their strongest suites.

From 6213 onward repeated wars would be fought between the two cities of magic. Leading to an off again on again 200 year period of wars called “the spell wars.” The wars would not cease until 6421 with the coming of a comet read as a bad omen by both sides.

The Hyperian Invasion and Occupation: ( 6424 - 6543 )

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In the year 6421, a ghastly omen appeared in the sky. For 2 days a comet hung in the sky striking terror across the Inan. The Oracles divined that the Gods had grown weary of mankind and would send a great cataclysm. With the exception of the Tamazians whom believed the sign was a good omen that a flood would soon wash the Inan clean the Vabbitic and Sinatic tribes that currently lorded over most of it. However three years came and went and no disaster happened. Leaving the priests puzzled.

Then in 6424, a new invasion came. A conquering imperial race unlike any the Inan had witnesses. Referring to themselves as "Hyperians," they are described by the Tamazian chronicler Anjarban as having bronze or olive skin and nearly all possessing hair that was silver blond, almost liker are platinum. The were a people from the west. A foreign historian, Justinian Sylva of Lydia would later recount that they were from the western most tip of land that any man could walk to.

The Hyperian conquers employed a mix of shock and awe and lightning speed movement against the most powerful armies of the Inan. Arkech, Erudesh, Uthesh and Nimeresh were quickly brought to bare. The might of their spell-casting was greater then any the Arkechens had managed to weave for themselves. Exact records are difficult to piece together as the Hyperians themselves made sure to rewrite and suppress any accounts taken at the time. It is said Arkech only held out for four days before capitulating to the invaders, and Erudesh fell within hours of their arrival. Their armies are described as having control a small number of dragons, and many of their fighters also wielded spells. When the major Vabbitic Kingdoms fell, all the surrounding lands quickly surrendered less they feel such awesome and terrible wrath.

The Hyperians cast the invasion as a noble enlightened race coming to liberate ignorant peoples. However the real reason for their presence in the Inan was clear from the get go. They had come for the grain, and nothing else. By 6426 the occupation was in full swing, the Hyperians had renovated the irrigation canals and had new ones made. They built the city of Zabyl in the north east, naming it after the people of that part of the Inan. However Hyperian "S" sounds are said to sound like "Z" in their language. They also quickly built Zabaalem, a monastic city at the base of a mountain inhabited by many dragons which were emblematic of their culture and society. While they worked on establishing a colonial foothold in the north east, they also established a a citadel in the south west, near the Mezek forest. Said to be a major lay line nexus, the fortress served as the major means by which the Hyperians were able to rule over the Inan, and indeed many other territories across the globe. By Anjarbans account the Hyperians had devised a spell that allowed them to travel vast distances in mere minutes. A Hyperian could have his morning bread in the Inan, sail in the Sea of Galilipe in the early afternoon, have lunch on the Athonian isle of Vesperion, and return to their homeland for dinner. However the means of rapid travel worked, it was a secret jealously guarded by the Hyperian overseers. Apparently before the conquest of the Inan, they allowed others to use it to facilitate rapid trade, however it quickly also became a means of organizing rebellions. The Hyperians thus used these magical teleportation circles to move only their own people around. It became key to their occupations which required few actual on the ground forces in any given province. A small oversight force and security force for colonists was all that was needed. If a rebellion happened in any given province they could flood soldiers through these citadels via the teleportation circle and quickly be able to crush any rebellion. And without the use of the circles, would be rebels had a difficult time organizing a mass rebellion throughout the Hyperians rather large empire.

The hold the Hyperians had over the Inan was ironclad. They exacted large tribute in the form of grain, draining nearly 1/3rd of the grain produced at the beginning. Though they had increased yield, they left the locals in a state of relative food scarcity in spite of it as the occupiers confiscated grain in ever greater amounts. Redistributing the food throughout the empire. The overseer put in charge of the Inan after 40 years was a man named Katar. A powerful mage who was a ruthless technocrat. He calculated the bare minimum amount of grain needed to sustain farm labor and limited the Inan's access to its own produce to that. He also intended to end local religious cults, he sent out troops who pilfered ziggurats and temples of holy items. To the Inan, the occupiers were thieving godless usurpers.

He also tightly controlled the use of magic by the Arkechens and attempted to exert some influence over the Vabbitic tribes whom lived in the Vabbian Desert. During this age Katar earned himself few friends, even among some of the colonists of his own ethnic group. He became detested in Zabyl and Zabaalem by the colonists whom had over the last 40 years somewhat integrated with local Sabylians forming a fused culture. However Katars magic and broad mandate to collect grain made him nigh unquestionable. Katars job was to feed a world spanning empire, and that was it. However a definite rift between those who settled the region and those who came for resource extraction definitely formed. By year 6490 Katar was completely despised locally by those he oversaw, among the colonists there was division between those who settled permanently (Growing to hate Katar) and those who oversaw the farms and grain silos (Who saw him as an excellent administrator). However, his support elsewhere in the empire, specifically among the rather mysterious "Tribunal," as the Hyperians called their ruling body and his grain yield made him well received outside the Inan.

In fact, while the Inan suffered, the world actually came to prosper. The Lydia Historian, Justinian wrote that over the next 100 years that the Hyperians ruled the Inan plains the populations of other provinces rose as the rising food supply could feed vast numbers of people. The pressure to keep Katar in place was far greater then any concerns from subject people or a small population of far flung colonists. Katar was free to administer as he saw fit and indulge his hobbies. In fact one personal quest of his was investigating the bones of Gog. He had a fascination with the magic that could have created such a mighty golem. He is even said to have gone on an expedition to find if any ruins of the Aserians might still survive to give clues as to Gog's construction or the metal he was made from.

The Fall of the Hyperians: ( 6543 )

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By 6540 however, the Hyperian occupation ended. With an abrupt calamitous bang. While Katar managed the grain shipments and dabbled in magical experiments, something terrible befell Hyperians Homeland. A cataclysm, felt around the world happened there. No scholar know for certain the exact cause, as anyone who may have known died in the disaster.

The Hyperian homeland was utterly annihilated. It sat on an oblong peninsula which had cracked and parts of it slid into the sea. Other parts were charred and left blackened and ash covered. Mysterious magical anomalies gripped the area, spells came to life, and in some areas the physical laws of nature seemed warped. Areas of wild magic and some spell blights appeared. More importantly the citadels became damaged. Within hours tsunamis washed into nearly every coastal city, even Ur-Mezek (Now Mezekesh) was damaged. Via merchants its believed these waves happened across the globe in lands as far away and exotic as Tolmek and Peji. More over earthquakes and aftershocks rippled across the Inan, and the globe, leaving cities damaged and a high death tole. In the immediate after shocks of the Hyperian cataclysm, its believed well over a million lives perished not counting however many died in the initial blast. (No census data survived to give an accurate estimate)

Katar in fact was forced to disable the teleportation circle that linked the Inan to the rest of the empire. Within weeks news filtered into the Inan about the disaster, and that other citadels that did not de-activate the teleportation spell were within days suddenly blasted by a strange destructive magical force. In quick succession the citadels fell, fanning out from the nearest to the Hyperian homeland to the farthest corners of their empire. What had caused this is unknown, even to this day nobody has even come to a satisfactory conclusion.

In the first year of the post-Hyperian cataclysm the Inan recovered from its 100 year artificially imposed famine. Katar no longer had anywhere to ship grain. However this had the inverse effect outside the Inan. To the west, the other provinces had a massive famine. Populations had risen dramatically with the influx of grain, with it suddenly gone the swollen populations elsewhere suddenly began to starve. Within a year it was estimated that 1 in 4 people starved to death in the former Hyperian provinces. Likewise food riots and wars were spawned as in many of these provinces the Hyperian colonists hoarded the food supply, that is in provinces that still had any. Many colonists settled near or around the citadels. Most of which exploded in great arcane fire. Meanwhile in the Inan, the opposite happened. The citadel survived intact, the heaviest concentration of colonists was further away, and food was now plentiful. However, the natives were due to deliver payback.

In 6542, uprisings quickly overtook the Inan. Katar and the other administrators took to defensible positions, generally either the citadel in the south or fortresses in the Sinat and Azun mountains. However a sizable chunk of Hyperians rebelled with the Inan natives. Those whom lived in Zabyl and Zabaalem joined the uprising and after a month they had Katars fortress stronghold now dubbed "Tyrants Crown," besieged. Hyperian administrators either made it to the citadels or other bunker fortresses or were killed by the armies of the Inan. Indeed pretty quickly it became ethnic cleansing.

In the winter of 6542, during the siege of Tyrants Crown, an elite group of warriors, led by Ravi of Ur-Mezek, broke through the battle lines and into the fortress. Ravi wielded an enchanted trident, blessed by the priesthood of the Mermaids, and a shield made to resist spells. He and his party met and killed Katar, Ravi earning the title of Mage Slayer for ultimately killing him. However even with Katars death, the siege of Tyrants crown continued into the spring of 9043. Until the Tyrants Crown itself exploded like the other citadels elsewhere in the world are said to have done. Some investigators allege that the remaining Hyperians were hoping to re-activate the teleportation circle to try and flee to safer grounds.

Thus in 6543 ended the 100 year Hyperian occupation. All that remained of the Hyperians in Inan was the small colony around Zabyl which became the tiny, reclusive Kingdom of Balaria. Named for the mount of Bal. A small Kingdom made up of some of the last living Hyperian descendants.

The Fall of Elam: ( 6562 )

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Not long after the collapse of Hyperia, did the old conflicts of the Inan flair back up. Namely the Arkecho-Elamite conflict. The dominate struggle of the plains for thousands of years, before Arkech or Elam were even built the northern Inan was a point of contentious struggle. Things came to a head with the House of Darzi which occupies the 6th seat on the Arkechen Council of 12 devised an incantation that would ideally summon some form of elemental or divine being into Elam to destroy it.

The goal was the use an incantation to create a gate between the material world and Ethereal-Shadow. Arkech rallied its armies and its ally Urakesh and got close enough to Elam. But did not engage, instead they used a device made of many lenses to focus a spell at the city. Overhead, near the south gate to Elam they conjured a gate. The incantation worked, soon terrifying monsters poured from the gate into Elam. The spell however had unintended consequences. Many parts of Elam became phase shifted into another plane, and the spell to close the gate did not work. Seen as a punishment from the Gods, the Arkechens abandoned the quest to take Elam. The Elamites meanwhile were forced to finally abandon their hard fought city and flee north to Azar Izel where the Elamites remain to this day. The gate incantation remains active and still the city and surrounding area is under a heavy misty miasma filled with strange demons and extra-planar demons.

For Arkech this was the final victory over the Sabylians. Without Elam, Arkech stood as the most powerful city in the northern plains. However, the city became a dead ruin, and the surrounding farmland un0tillable as no farmers would settle in lands haunted and cursed by strange beasts and vengeful dead Elamites. The city of Elam sits a gloomy eerie empty place. Often called the City of Ghosts to the brave few who go into it.

The Failed Lydian Invasion: (6730)

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Out of the ashes of the Hyperians, one of their provinces, the Lydians for whom the Hyperians borrowed numerous alchemical and engineering knowledge, set out to gain a toe hold in the Inan. They had over the last century been building an empire since the fall of the Hyperians. They made out fairly intact from the food shortages, and rose to great prominence. Like the Hyperians they wanted control over grain to feed and Empire. However unlike the Hyperians they did not succeed.

The Lydian General Belisari Aquila led a fairly large invasion. However the Lydians did not expect such healthy resistance. They had grown accustomed to fighting starved or depleted populations, not healthy well fed ones. More over the Vabbian Desert was inhabited by numerous Vabbitic nomad tribes whom caused no end of trouble. They made it as far as the Red Gap, and had a substantial force, however an untimely sandstorm swallowed the Lydians. Leading the present day Lydian graves. A large field of bleaching bones and broken tower shields. Most account the failed invasion to the arrogance and short sighted ways of General Aquila whom had so far had made easy work of previous campaigns. He was too self assured and did not plan well for a desert campaign.

The Fall of Ur-Mezek and Rise of Mezekesh: ( 6980 )

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After a relatively peaceful century for the Tamaz, an Erudeshen merchant warlord named Sulieman looked upon the Tamaz as fertile ground to establish his own royal dynasty. Due to his unfortunate birth, he was not even sixth inline to inherit his fathers position in the House of Keshem, the family that ran the shipping boats in the city of Erudesh. He instead gathered a motley crew of mercenaries and bandits and looked south to Ur-Mezek, believing that instead of a big overwhelming army, a smaller more organized force could break the delta.

Indeed, in 6976, with a combination of alchemical wonders, boats, being unbound by political squabbles, and facing a fairly weak and incompetent King Algeraj, Suliemens force was able to take the ancient city of Ur-Mezek. He crowned himself King Sulieman Al-Mezek and renamed the city Mezekesh. He brought with him his wife Jasmin, and in their newly conquered city they had a son Khaleed. With Sulieman on the throne he introduced Vabbitic culture to the newly subject very conservative Tamazians. Attempting to liberalise the ancient caste system, impose worship of Nazrael and Ziel as the supreme deities, introduce more modern taxation similar to the Vabbian Kingdoms in the north. However Sulieman did not live very long. Born in 6955, he was 25 when conquered Ur-Mezek. His reforms were not popularly met, and his reign required an increasingly fierce army of inquisitors acting as secret police and enforces. Before he could have a shrine to Nazrael and Ziel put into the Coral Ziggurat in now Mezekesh, he died. Many suspected assassinations. In 6980 he died of a strange illness leaving only his wife, Queen Jasmin and his infant son Khaleed on the throne. Soon his allies whom had supported him began to plot to kill the infant prince and dispose of Jasmin. However Jasmin was cunning. Though she suspected Tamazian Zealots poisoned her husband, she accused his former commanders and underlings of being behind the plot, publicly denouncing them as murders.

Queen Jasmin then proclaimed that she had a religious conversion, seeing a miracle of Anash and Enki and commanded that the work to renovate the Coral Ziggurat be stopped and the idols of Nazrael and Ziel be thrown into the swamps. She also began agitating against the other Vabbitic nobles who were plotting to usurp her. She had spies and friends in high places and was tipped off of the plots brewing fairly early, and instead of accept her fate as the wife of an unpopular conqueror soon to be replaced by another unpopular occupier, she instead turned the tables.

She instead rallied the Tamazians, even learned to speak the Tamazian language and arranged to marry her son to the niece of the former King Algeraj. She also vocally proclaimed the supreme glory of the Mermaids, and denounced the sinfulness of Vabbitic lords. Quickly Tamazian opinions turned in her favor, after a few Oracles concurred that she was sincere and that the Goddesses willed her reign. She accused the Vabbian lords of everything the Tamazians considered sinful, pedophilia, homosexuality, eating impure foods, blaspheming Anash and Enki ect ect... some of the accusations may have been true, one of the Vabbian lords named Sayed is said to have kept male prostitutes as well as female ones. Whatever the pretext Jasmin sparked a civil war. The Vabbitic lords sent word to Nimeresh to rally support. Jasmin meanwhile prepared the Tamazians knowing Nimeresh would employ Suliemans tactics. She also sent word to Kemi and Akkash to back her reign.

Late one night, weeks after her supposed conversion and agitation, bloody riots murdered or drove out the former commanders that followed Sulieman. Nimeresh did not send reinforcements, neither did Erudesh who supported Jasmin and thus Khaleeds crown. Queen Jasmin continues to reign over the thrown. She later did enact some of the reforms her husband wished. She has worked to loosen the Tamazian caste system, has a more tolerant approach to other pantheons, however she has mostly adopted the conservative and traditional attitudes of Tamazian culture.

Re: Land between the Rivers [PF][PEACH]

On the history itself: I liked it. It reads like an account of a series of migrations, which feels accurate to the setting feel. More specifically:

You could use a timeline to keep everything straight.

Your creation story feels a little disjointed and sanitized. Reading some of the early creation stories reveals the gods weren't averse to use anything to make the world. Even some questionable usage of certain liquids in the human body.

As you said in my thread, Gods of this era are capricious. I'd like to see some examples of cruelty by the gods as well as some kindness (see: Ishtar in the Epic of Gilgamesh). At their worst, Mesopotamian gods were pitiless Cthulhu like monsters. To quote TV Tropes:

Crapsack World: Humans were created to be slaves to the gods and when they died, they all went to the same gloomy underworld. Any wonder why their scribes wrote stuff like this:"Tears, lament, anguish, and depression are within me. Suffering overwhelms me. Evil fate holds me and carries off my life. Malignant sickness bathes me."

I do believe that ancient Sumerians, or ancient folk in general, would call a Dragon a Serpent. Great Wyrm also works, but the word Dragon itself doesn't sit well with me.

In your history, you have a lot of conflict between shepherds and farmers. According to historian Robert L O'Connell, the very first wars would have been fought between these two forces. So Kudos!

So, let me know if I'm reading this right. The Sabylians read an awful lot like Hittites, what with their animal husbandry and horsemanship (I would suggest having them invent chariots!). The Vabbians are the Indo-European, or Aryan invaders (they have iron and they displace and conquer everyone else). The Tamazians look like native Sumerians. The Sinatic people are Israelites, and the Aserians are essentially Babylon (except they built a dragon instead of a tower, so sweet). Did I get that right?

Re: Land between the Rivers [PF][PEACH]

Originally Posted by Ninjadeadbeard

So, let me know if I'm reading this right. The Sabylians read an awful lot like Hittites, what with their animal husbandry and horsemanship (I would suggest having them invent chariots!). The Vabbians are the Indo-European, or Aryan invaders (they have iron and they displace and conquer everyone else). The Tamazians look like native Sumerians. The Sinatic people are Israelites, and the Aserians are essentially Babylon (except they built a dragon instead of a tower, so sweet). Did I get that right?

Actually not exactly, I draw and combine a lot,

The Tamazians are a lot like the Sumerians in that they are the first to settle and live in the delta. Also the Tamazian lifestyle is like that of the Sumerians. However a lot of things about them are like ancient Vedic and Hindu culture, a rigid caste system chief among them. They also have similar purity rules. They also have some aspects similar to the Israelites in that they were brought to their current homeland by their deities and see it as a sort of promised land.

The Vabbians are actually more like the Semitic invaders then any Indo-Europeans. The Semitic speakers invaded and founded such cities as babylon and Akkad, actually in the region I've made the city of Arkech has some similarities to Babyl. A giant tower built by slaves from many nations, and a city of magic users.

Sabylians do have that Hittite flair. But also a bit of Persian, same with the Sinatic speakers.

In truth each ethnic group is a mix of peoples and customs.

Originally Posted by Ninjadeadbeard

In your history, you have a lot of conflict between shepherds and farmers. According to historian Robert L O'Connell, the very first wars would have been fought between these two forces. So Kudos!

What is the Epic of Gilgemesh if not a story of some city slicker going in and beating up a bunch of country folk and taking their stuff?

Originally Posted by Ninjadeadbeard

I do believe that ancient Sumerians, or ancient folk in general, would call a Dragon a Serpent. Great Wyrm also works, but the word Dragon itself doesn't sit well with me.

It doesn't but for the players I use words they are familiar with sometimes. I mean I did go around and look up arabic, hebrew and farsi words for things where I could but often the players are just "So a dragon?" .... >.<

Originally Posted by Ninjadeadbeard

As you said in my thread, Gods of this era are capricious. I'd like to see some examples of cruelty by the gods as well as some kindness (see: Ishtar in the Epic of Gilgamesh). At their worst, Mesopotamian gods were pitiless Cthulhu like monsters. To quote TV Tropes:

True that, however I'm being a bit more varied then the source material. For example the Tamazians fanatically love Anash and Enki, attaching them all sorts of adoration. They lead them to this promised land, protect them, and nourish them.

The Vabbians have more that sort of relation to their Gods. Ziel is the uncaring passage of time, cruel father time dealing out everyone's fate, no matter how cruel. And Nazrael, while enchanting and sexy is also passionate and at times capricious, like the sun it gives life but burns your skin and dries the land.

I do plan to add some things about Mizarom though, He frequently delivering punishments to both the living and dead.

In a way I'm trying to combine a lot of mythology. Part Mesopotamia, Part Canaan, Part Persia, even a bit of Hindu.

Originally Posted by Ninjadeadbeard

Your creation story feels a little disjointed and sanitized. Reading some of the early creation stories reveals the gods weren't averse to use anything to make the world. Even some questionable usage of certain liquids in the human body.

creation story? Actually I didn't make one, as none of the religions in the land specifically have one. I guess I posted the wrong draft. >.<

Technically the Gods are unknown if they specifically created the world or are just powerful entities who interact with it.

Originally Posted by Ninjadeadbeard

You could use a timeline to keep everything straight.

I'm thinking of having everything be post "War in Heaven." So the common era is everything after that.

Re: Land between the Rivers [PF][PEACH]

So this is a storing house for campaign specific feats. Many of them being specific to the human variants to allow players some extra boosts.

Racial Feats

Feyish Human Feats:

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Lesser Tibbit:

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You can change into a a common domestic cat. Possibly you are blessed by a feline fey, or are even part fey by birth.

Prerequisites: Cha 13, Feyborn.

Special: Must be a Feyborn Human.

Benefit: You can take the form of a House Cat whose appearance is static and cannot be changed each time you assume this form. You gain a +10 racial bonus on Disguise checks made to appear as a house cat. Changing from Feyborn Human to Lesser Tibbit is a standard action. This ability otherwise functions as beast shape II, and your ability scores change accordingly.

Greater Tibbit:

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You can change into a a Leopard (Cat, Great). Possibly you are blessed by a feline fey, or are even part fey by birth.

Benefit: You can take the form of a Leopard (Cat, Great) whose appearance is static and cannot be changed each time you assume this form. You gain a +10 racial bonus on Disguise checks made to appear as a Leopard . Changing from Feyborn Human to Greater Tibbit is a standard action. This ability otherwise functions as beast shape II, and your ability scores change accordingly.

Re: Land between the Rivers [PF][PEACH]

A thing comes to me, what are some systems of mass warfare? I am a bit unfamiliar with mass warfare systems and am looking for one to implement as warfare and large armies are a part of the campaign.

Right now I am looking at the mass battle system in Birthright, but obviously I need to invent some new units. Things such as charioteers, however I think it suites the plausible needs for such a setting.

Re: Land between the Rivers [PF][PEACH]

A thing comes to me, what are some systems of mass warfare? I am a bit unfamiliar with mass warfare systems and am looking for one to implement as warfare and large armies are a part of the campaign.

Right now I am looking at the mass battle system in Birthright, but obviously I need to invent some new units. Things such as charioteers, however I think it suites the plausible needs for such a setting.

I, personally, would just whip up my own system. Crib a few notes here and there, but massed combat is something I don't think I'd be happy with unless it worked like I see ancient warfare working.

A general idea, just thought of this: Split Units up into 50's, 100's, 500, and then 1,000's. Guesstimate the size of a nation's military population (I think something like 2-10% of the general population is a good idea), and then divide by 10. The number you get will probably be roughly the size of a standing army (peace time?). A 1 Million population using these numbers has a total military pop around 20,000, and can field an actual standing army close to 2,000 strong.

Figure that Infantry will make up the bulk of the army. Cheaper than all-horsemen, less training needed than bowmen. Let's say 1,200 Inf. We could subdivide that into 12 Centuries (12 100-strong units). If we feel really snazzy we can further subdivide them into Heavy Infantry, Light Infantry, or Spear Infantry. For now let's not.

Bowmen will be important to an army, so we can expect at least a decent amount of them. Say, 500? Lot of archers. Split them into 5 Centuries, or 10 Cohorts (50-strong for our purposes). For an Ancient Warfare Simulator that's all you need (although a later setting would need to differentiate between bows and crossbows).

Horsemen and Chariots. Both immensely powerful units. About 100 each. Nobles ride chariots with their personal bowmen, while some sort of equestrian class rides horseback. Both can make a Charge, and both can support an archer, although the chariot can do both at once.

Give each Unit 3 Stats: Tech, Training, Morale. For Tech, Bronze armor and weapons nets +1, anything less is 0 or lower. Iron equals +2, Steel is +3, and so on and so forth. This modifies offense and defensive rolls. Training works similarly,+0 representing raw recruits and +4 representing Elites. Add this to Attack or Defense, but it takes a Full Round to switch. Morale works like a Will Save. This number is equal to the Charisma Modifier of the leader of the Army, or if they are led by a character with a higher Charisma use that. Every time an attack connects with a Unit (or their own attack failed to connect), it costs a number of casualties equal to the difference between the Attacker and Defender rolls. Roll a Morale Save 1d20+casualties, or lose a point of Morale. Some attacks cause extra Morale Loss (fire attacks, attack in the flank, etc). When a Unit fails a Save while at 0 Morale, they run if able.

Set up the two armies, decide who attacks first, and start rolling. Most Units should be the same on a side. Add a small modifier depending on who fights who. Archers get +1 against Cavalry, Cavalry gets a +2 against Infantry (except Spearmen) and Infantry gains a bonus against archers. Add modifiers for tactics like flanking or suppression fire, or making lanes when the scythed chariots attack.